


To Belong

by SoulOfAFangirl684



Category: Naruto
Genre: Adoption, Early Team Gai Interactions, Family, Friendship, Gen, Pre-Canon, Team as Family, Tenten Backstory/Character Study, adopted families, finding yourself, pseudo families
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-15
Updated: 2018-06-22
Packaged: 2019-05-23 17:31:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14938748
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SoulOfAFangirl684/pseuds/SoulOfAFangirl684
Summary: All her life, Tenten had heard stories about people who'd been adopted who just felt an emptiness somewhere inside them. A hole that could only be filled by their biological parents. Tenten had never experienced this emptiness. So why was she so affected now, by the mere sight of the woman who was surely her birth mother?





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, all. Welcome.  
> You ever have one of those ideas that you liked but weren’t really intending to like? But then, before you know it, the first chapter is written, and it’s really not going to be that long, so why not, right? That’s how this story came into being. I love playing with Tenten’s backstory, so let’s do this.
> 
> 'Chapter One' is really more of a prologue than a real first chapter.

It all started on a very strange Tuesday. Well, Tenten supposed it was a fairly normal Tuesday, actually. At first, anyway.

She’d been with her genin team for about three months. Rock Lee and Neji Hyuga. The best and worst of the graduating class. She’d known them both since they were all children, barely older than toddlers, really. Tenten hadn’t thought particularly highly of either of them. She hadn’t thought much about either of them, period. But she didn’t bemoan the assignment, like so many of her classmates. Any feelings Tenten might have had towards her new team mates were drowned out in the excitement and determination. She was officially a ninja. On her way to making something of herself. Tenten felt that if she only were to stretch out her fingers, she could touch the future…

And so Team Gai settled into each other’s company. Through extreme training sessions and mindless D-rank missions, Tenten came to enjoy their company. Lee and Gai—especially when combined—could be exhausting, but she was no longer quite so put off by their weirdness. Team Gai had a very… interesting dynamic.

And so it was that the Tuesday in question happened to be both very normal and very strange. It had begun like any other Tuesday. Tenten had finally learned to rise before Gai’s obscenely early wake-up call, a fact her sensei was ridiculously proud of. They got in an early training session before heading out to be assigned yet another D-rank.

Today they were sent to a music shop to help clean the instruments. It was a delicate job, work that really only Neji was suited for. An hour in, even Lee was forced into near-silence by his need to concentrate so as not to break anything by accident. And the day became strange. Never before could Tenten remember a quiet mission with her team.

Things were going well. It looked like they were going to get out at a reasonable time, and the post-mission training sessions were usually optional—only Lee ever took Gai sensei up on them. And then the woman walked into the store. And everything stopped.

Or perhaps it would only seem that way, after the fact. But for Tenten, everything stopped.

The woman was… unremarkable. Relatively young—twenty-nine, Tenten knew. But it wasn’t striking beauty that caught her eye. It was the exact shape and shade of her eyes. The way she held her hands at her sides. The way her voice hit unusually high notes when she laughed at something the shopkeeper said. It all seemed to happen in a split second. But then, time had stopped, after all.

Tenten recognized it all. These strangely specific details that she’d spent twelve years becoming acquainted with within herself. For a moment, she wondered if she could be mistaken. But only for a moment. Because then the woman turned to the corner where they were working, and Tenten saw the same immediate, almost inexplicable, recognition on the face that looked so much like her own.

The woman did not have Tenten’s composure, however. In the space of a second, her expression crumpled. She turned and fled the shop, her errand apparently forgotten.

Time returned to normal. The woman’s actions had not gone unnoticed. Tenten was distantly aware of the fact that her own hands had stilled. Her team mates were staring at her.

“Tenten,” Lee asked at last. “Is something wrong?”

She turned to him, but she could only stare, her eyes too wide, her mind too blank.


	2. Chapter Two

Once upon a time, in a land struggling to recover from one war after another, a couple found themselves facing the rather mundane struggle of trying to get pregnant. This was not an uncommon struggle, but it was a struggle that didn’t exactly reach the top of the doctors’ list of priorities in those days. The couple had almost given up hope… When a chance encounter answered their prayers.

The woman was young—not yet old enough to be considered a woman, really. They’d been having so much trouble, and here she was, pregnant by accident. They were each other’s blessing.

In March, the young woman gave birth to a healthy baby girl… who she gratefully handed over before disappearing back to her own story.

The happy parents returned home with their long-sought-after treasure… But the fairy tale wasn’t to be. Within the first two years, the woman fell gravely ill. She did not live to see the child’s third birthday.

And so the gruff older man was left alone to raise their daughter. It was not a job he felt particularly adept at, but he thought he did all right. Later, he would attribute much of the smooth sailing to luck. That and the girl’s own tenacity.

From a very young age, Tenten had been a force to be reckoned with. She was resilient and driven. And she got along just fine without a mother.

 Her father was unsurprised when she announced her intention to enter the ninja academy. He was also unconcerned. He was a civilian, from a family of civilians, but his daughter was a survivor. He had every confidence that she would succeed.

He told her the details of her birth and adoption on the day of her entrance ceremony. His own mother was horrified, convinced Tenten was too young to know—that this knowledge would forever blemish an otherwise celebratory day. But Tenten was fine, as he’d known she would be. Apathetic, even.

Why did it matter which woman had given birth to her, she wanted to know. She couldn’t remember either one. She was happy, and she was loved She didn’t need a mother.

**…………**

This wasn’t how she’d wanted it to go.

All her life, Tenten had heard stories about people who’d been adopted who just felt an emptiness somewhere inside them. A hole that could only be filled by their biological parents.

Tenten had never experienced this emptiness. She knew who she was, and she loved the people who _had_ taken the time to raise her. So why was she so affected now, by the mere sight of the woman who was surely her birth mother?

It wasn’t that Tenten had never been curious. She’d thought about maybe tracking down this woman someday, but it had never been at the top of her to-do list. She hadn’t been sure there was ever even going to _be_ a reunion. But if there was…

This wasn’t how she’d wanted it to go. The fact that her birth mother had been living in the village this whole time… That she could have run into her in any random store, at any given time in the past twelve years… She felt suddenly off-balance. Shaken by the realization that she wasn’t nearly as in control of her life as she thought she’d been. As she wanted to be.

“Please go on without me, Gai sensei! I will catch up later. There is something I must do today.”

Tenten was broken out of her thoughts by the sound of Lee’s voice… refusing an invitation to train with his beloved mentor? What was happening to the world? But they’d left the music store, and Lee had remained uncharacteristically quiet. Even now, he looked strangely serious. She heard Gai carrying on about how youthful it was to honor one’s responsibilities, and then he was gone, leaving the three of them to walk home in only each other’s company.

“What’s going on today?” she asked, a little suspicious.

He smiled at her then. Not one of his usual pose-inducing, over-the-top smiles, but a smaller, softer one. The kind of smile that reminded her that even Lee hadn’t lost _all_ of his sanity. “I just feel that I am needed elsewhere today. I will train twice as hard later to make up for it!”

Her stomach dropped, suspicions confirmed. This was about her. Granted, she’d kind of expected it. Her total space-out back in the music store hadn’t exactly been subtle. And it was sort of touching to know Lee cared. All the same, she wasn’t sure she wanted their input before she figured out what this little encounter even meant to her.

“Won’t your parents find it strange that you’re home so early?” she tried.

His kindness didn’t falter. “My parents died when I was very young. I live with my grandmother. I’m sure she will understand.”

Well, there went that plan. Of _course_ even Lee had family troubles of some sort. It seemed the universe wanted them to discuss their parents. Who was she to get in the way of such things? Tenten glanced sideways at Neji, who was always going on about fate and inevitabilities. He met her eyes, and she got the feeling he knew exactly what she was thinking as she sighed and said, “What about you, Neji?”

She half expected him to brush her off. Neji so rarely shared anything about himself, and his family in particular was a touchy subject. Lee’s eyes were uncomfortably curious. But, then, they’d already established that Neji didn’t think there was any point in resisting the wants of the universe.

“Dead,” he obliged simply, ignoring the not-so-subtle surprise on both their faces. “I was very young also.”

There was something else in his words—something he wasn’t saying, but Tenten didn’t ask after it.

“Me too,” she said before amending quickly, “My mother anyway. She got sick when I was really young. I don’t really remember her. My father’s a blacksmith. We live in the center of town.”

“Excellent!” said Lee. “We will walk with you.”

Tenten figured there was no point in telling him he didn’t need to bother. She had learned not to argue with Lee when he was determined. Even Neji didn’t object. He would have to pass through town to reach the Hyuga compound anyway.

All was quiet again for a long time until at last Lee asked the burning question. “Tenten, who was that woman?”

At least it sounded like he was trying to be gentle about it. She didn’t have to ask which woman, though she considered playing dumb at first. Neither of her team mates had mentioned their obvious resemblance, for which she was grateful. For a solid minute, Tenten couldn’t answer. And all he got when she could was a lackluster, “I don’t know.”

“Ryuko,” Neji supplied quietly. When their heads snapped his way in surprise, he added, “She was wearing a name tag. An employee badge, I assume. I didn’t look to see where.”

He sounded slightly miffed at this oversight on his part. The Hyuga genius didn’t like not knowing things. But Tenten didn’t care that he didn’t have all the answers. A tingling sensation had erupted in the midst of the numbness she’d been trying to puzzle through ever since setting eyes on her mother. She had a name. She had a way to start tracking her down… if that was what she wanted, of course.

They had reached the blacksmith’s forge. Tenten and her father lived in the tiny apartment above it, kept forever warm by the fires ablaze below. She walked back to the door leading into her father’s workspace, a force of habit. She realized a bit too late that Neji and Lee were still following her.

They stopped a little awkwardly at the door, not having been invited in.

“Well, this is it,” said Tenten, equally awkward. And then, a little soberly, “And thank you guys, for everything.”

The dismissal was clear. The boys were polite, at least, about any lingering curiosity they may have had. There was an unspoken understanding between them. They would reconvene on this subject at another time.

“Tenten?” a man’s voice called as she shut the door. “That you?”

“Yeah, Dad!” she called back. “I’m home!”

An older man came around the counter from the showroom a second later. He was short and stocky, muscular. His curly black hair was graying, and it was clear he’d been working all day, covered in sweat, ash, and grime. But his face broke into a fond smile when he saw her.

“How was work?” he asked, his lips quirking up a little. In truth, it was a rather odd question for a civilian to ask of his twelve-year-old daughter.

“Uh, it was… interesting,” she answered, stooping to examine a sword that was still cooling. Most of her father’s clients were ninja, so he wasn’t totally out of the loop when it came to her ‘job’. It was here, after all, that she’d first found her love for weaponry and all the different sorts of tools out there.

“No more mindless grunt work?”

“Well… I’ll tell you later,” she decided, heading for the stairs that led up to their apartment. But she stopped on the first step and turned back to him. “Hey, Dad… How well did you know the woman who gave birth to me?”

Confusion clouded his features. Clearly, her question had surprised him. “Not too well. I’ve told you before, it was one of those crazy chance encounters… Fate, if you will. We didn’t even exchange surnames.”

“So… no forwarding address, I take it.”

“No…” He had that strange look on his face again. “She was young, honey. And a bit impulsive, is the impression I got. Likely how we ended up with you. Why so curious, all of a sudden?”

Tenten shrugged, trying to make her nonchalance as convincing as possible. “No reason. Uh, Lee was talking about his parents, so I guess it just got me thinking.”

Well, it wasn’t a total lie. And it distracted her father. “Lee… That the kid with the creepy eyes or the one with the jumpsuit?”

Now a smile quirked at _her_ lips. “Jumpsuit.”

“Hmm.” He nodded. “They’re both a little weird, aren’t they?”

Tenten laughed. “Maybe. But they’re my friends. I like them that way.”

He nodded again. “Good. I suppose that’s all that matters.”

She let him get back to his work, turning and jogging up the stairs. Tenten changed into something a little less dusty so that she could go down and man the front counter, allowing her father to work without interruption. But before heading back down, she took a moment to sit back on her bed, really think through all that had happened today.

Ryuko… The name now felt like so little when she thought about everything that went into the make-up of a person. And Tenten was nothing if not curious. She supposed she didn’t have to know exactly what the woman meant to her just yet. She knew she wouldn’t be able to let this go until she got her answers. So that settled it. Tenten was going to find her mother.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do have to say that I've never felt like this story was my best work. I always knew it was going to be a short little thing, and I do feel like I got the intended point across, but... eh. I'm sure you'll see by the end.

The decision to find her mother did not alter Tenten’s life in any major way, as she felt it maybe should have. Her father, at least, didn’t seem to notice anything different about her. She wasn’t apparently aglow with new purpose. Lee spared her a few curious looks over the next few training sessions, but neither of the boys said anything outright.

So Tenten threw herself into her training with a new effort. Whatever else Gai sensei claimed it could do, hard work was the best distraction. The weapons specialist knew better than to let this single quest become an obsession and consume her. She wasn’t going to let it have that sort of power over her.

Which wasn’t to say the curiosity ever abated completely. It was always there, just under the surface, now that the decision to act had been made. But she kept a lid on it. She could acknowledge that control was important to her, without reading into it too deeply.

So she was entirely level-headed when she returned to the music store a week later. She’d given herself sufficient time to back out. There was no going back now.

“Good morning, miss,” the owner greeted her cheerfully, not seeming to recognize her. “Is there anything I can help you with?”

Tenten did her best to smile invitingly, remind him of where they’d met before in a calm, neutral tone. Come across overall as a reasonable person, the kind of person he’d want to help. And then she finally got to the crux of the matter.

“There was a woman who came in here that day. Ryuko? I was wondering if you could tell me a little more about her. Is she in here a lot?”

The little old man’s face lit up at the mention of her name, and Tenten knew she’d struck gold. “Oh, of course! Ryuko’s one of my best customers! She teaches music at the public school right down the road, you know. Oh, well, I guess you might not know. You would have gone through the ninja academy.”

Tenten nodded agreeably. “Yeah. I’ve never been inside, but I know the building. I _thought_ there was something about her that just seemed musical. Do you know what she plays?” And she truly wasn’t embellishing _that_ much. There had been something about the woman’s hands—the way she poised them particularly—that had seemed familiarly dexterous. Yet another similarity she’d noted between the two of them.

The shopkeeper chuckled fondly. “Oh, just about any instrument she can get her hands on, from what I’ve seen. I believe she started with the violin.” Something seemed to cross his mind for the first time. “May I ask what your interest in Ryuko is?”

Tenten laughed airily, harmlessly. “Oh, I was thinking of taking lessons. Even a ninja has to have hobbies, right?”

Any suspicion cleared from the man’s face instantly. “Oh, wonderful! Say, if you’re planning to see Ryuko anyway, perhaps you could do me a favor…”

He ducked behind the counter and reemerged with a simple, unmarked folder, thick with papers. “She never picked up her sheet music last week. I’ve been meaning to check up on her myself, actually; I’ve just been so busy… I never did find out what made her run out like that.”

Tenten grabbed the folder off the counter, trying to keep her expression from wavering. Not that the old man seemed like the most observant of fellows, anyway. But then, perhaps she was the only one this hyperaware of every little move Ryuko made. “I’d be happy to deliver them for you, if you’d like.”

The man’s smile grew even brighter. “Would you really? That would be wonderful. You ninja are all so helpful. Working even when you’re not technically working.”

_You have no idea…_ she thought, letting him ramble on for a bit in his simple, good-natured way. She already had her prize—a clear destination.

**…………**

Though they populated the village in almost equal numbers, most ninja rarely gave thought to the civilian side of things. Once upon a time, Tenten would have considered herself the exception. Her adoptive family were all civilians, after all.

Upon stepping into the lobby of the local civilian public school, however, she realized that sometime in the last three months—since her status as a ninja had become official—she’d begun thinking as one firmly rooted on the other side of things. She supposed the underlying motivations were similar to all teachers at this level, but the feeling just didn’t seem to be there in this setting. The ninja academy may have been strict and laced with high expectations, but there had been something inclusive there, too—traditional. Each lesson felt a little like a gift—passed down through the generations.

That’s how Tenten liked to imagine it, anyway, when she was feeling just the slightest bit romantic. The atmosphere in this setting was horribly formal, distant. At least, until the music reached her ears.

Tenten had arrived—purposely—after class had been dismissed for the day. So perhaps the emptiness had added in to her bleak view of things. But the sound of the piano’s warm-up routines were enough to fill the hall, give the scene a little color.

Tenten was hardly a music buff. In fact, she’d never been aware of it as anything more than background noise before. But she’d begun to ponder that view on her walk over. The picture the music store owner had painted of her mother had made her seem quite passionate about it. Perhaps music was her craft? Maybe it took a special passion to really understand music. After all, she was certainly aware that most people just didn’t _get_ weaponry the way that she did.

So she couldn’t say she was really _moved_ by the sound. Or even that it was objectively beautiful. But it was _something_. And it was enough to spur her onward.

Being the only sound in an otherwise silent hallway made it easy for her to find its source. Tenten ended up in the doorway of a large room. The civilian school’s music room looked like any other classroom from the outside. Once through the doorway, however, the room opened up to show a second story housing individual, soundproofed practice rooms, and another doorway leading to an area that housed the students’ instruments. The main room featured a large piano, and seated at that piano…

“I thought you said you weren’t going to be able to make it today,” Ryuko threw over her shoulder cheerfully, without turning around.

“Um,” Tenten interjected awkwardly, unsure how else to announce her presence. It turned out to be good enough. Ryuko whirled around at the unfamiliar voice, and her eyes widened when she realized who it was. In that second, Tenten became supremely relieved she had a reason for being there unrelated to her own curiosity and emotional fulfillment.

She took a few steps forward and held out the folder of sheet music, trying to keep her movements steady and evenly paced. “You forgot this. The other day…”

Ryuko took the folder cautiously, her mouth forming a little ‘O’ of surprise. “I must have forgotten to go back for it. Typical me. I certainly would have been missing it a few days from now. I’m sorry you had to go to the trouble of tracking me down!”

She babbled on nervously and then tried to sweep the awkwardness away with a light, airy laugh. It didn’t work. It reminded Tenten too much of her own forced cheer with the shopkeeper earlier that morning. Besides, she wasn’t to be deterred.

“My name’s Tenten,” she said firmly.

To her credit, Ryuko’s smile only wavered the tiniest bit. “Oh, well, it’s nice to meet you. I’m Ryuko.”

“I know,” she replied. “And I think you know who I am, too.”

Tenten paused, suddenly worried she was coming across all wrong. After all, she didn’t want this meeting to be a confrontation. She tried to soften her tone a bit. “Sorry. I don’t mean to be so forward… I’d just like to talk for a bit. If that’s okay? And then you won’t ever have to see me again.”

Well, she supposed that was a little more than was within her power. After all, it had been a total coincidence that had brought them together in the first place. But Ryuko’s guard had dropped almost immediately once Tenten’s demeanor had become friendlier. Her smile was now almost shy. As if Tenten were the adult and she was the child or student seeking approval.

Ryuko moved over on the piano bench, gesturing for her to sit down. Tenten obliged. For a moment, the two just looked at each other in silence. Once again, Tenten saw her own familiar features in the face of someone else. She wasn’t sure she could ever get used to it. It was mind-boggling to think that all of her classmates who lived with their biological parents got to see these similarities all the time. They’d probably stopped noticing them a long time ago. How bizarre.

At last, she had to look away, realizing that they’d just been _staring_ at each other in silence. She even giggled a little, ducking her head. She was feeling oddly giddy.

Ryuko laughed in response. “Sorry. It’s just… _Wow_. Genetics, huh? I never thought I’d see you all grown-up… And I never thought you’d look so much like me!” 

Tenten’s smile widened. It was hard to stay serious around Ryuko. “Twelve is hardly all grown up.”

“Compared to the last time I saw you!” the woman protested. “Of course, I _was_ half delirious from labor pains at that point…”

Her words brought a little of the tension back to Tenten’s features, not that Ryuko appeared to notice. But Tenten had been pulled back to her reasons for being here in the first place.  But now that they’d finally met, face to face, she was unsure where to start. What did she want to know? What _didn’t_ she want to know? What if Ryuko shut down as soon as she started asking her the heavy stuff? What was the most important question?

“Are you still in touch with my dad?” she asked suddenly, overwhelmed with the pressure to ask _something_.

Ryuko’s eyes widened in surprise. She, too, finally seemed to remember what had brought them together today. “Your biological one, you mean?”

Tenten just gave her a look, like, _of course_.

Ryuko nodded slowly, looking slightly ashamed. “No… We weren’t that close, to tell you the truth.”

Her daughter worked to keep the judgment from her face. She was starting to feel prickles of unease, however, bubbling up in the pit of her stomach. _Close enough to let him get you pregnant_ , she couldn’t help thinking. Tenten had been educated in the ways of the world fairly early on, due to her father’s awkward attempt to explain the way she’d come into his life. She liked to think their views were reasonably progressive. Even so, sex was not the sort of act she deemed… appropriate for two people who barely knew each other.

Ryuko gave that high-pitched, airy little laugh again. Tenten was starting to suspect it had defense mechanism associations. “I have to be honest, I’ve always liked to dream big. I tend to throw myself wholeheartedly into every opportunity that comes my way. My sister says it’s what makes me a good musician. But if you need, say, a wedding planner… Well, I _told_ her I probably wasn’t the best choice!”

Tenten had been caught off guard by the casual mention of other family. She supposed it shouldn’t have come as much of a surprise. It wasn’t like Ryuko had sprouted out of the ground just to get pregnant and give birth. Someone had had to bring her into the world as well. And so on.

Any embarrassment had vanished as Ryuko continued to prattle on about her life. She wasn’t kidding. It did seem almost too easy for her to get caught up—and swept away—in something once she got started. Tenten had no doubt that anything she wanted to know about her biological mother was right at her fingertips. All she had to do was ask.

But sitting there, less than a foot away, Tenten felt a sort of distance. They had just barely begun... She hadn't even gotten around to most of her questions. But a deep discomfort was beginning to overwhelm her. She was once again at a loss of what to ask… But for very different reasons this time. It was a feeling she could not quite put a name to. Something she wasn't ready to analyze yet. With a sickening kind of certainty, she knew she’d seen enough.

Again, Ryuko seemed oblivious to the tone shift that had taken place between them. Her smile was open and expectant. “What else did you want to know?”

“Um, I think that’s all for today,” she answered, trying to match Ryuko’s tone. “I guess I just wanted to meet you. After seeing you in the music store the other day, it was all I could think about.”

It was something to say to smooth over her abrupt departure, and it was true enough. Ryuko brought a hand to her chest in an exaggerated gesture of relief. “Me too! I wasn’t sure you’d want to meet with me. This was fun, though. It’s good to know you’ve had a good life. I mean, I _thought_ your parents seemed like great people, but you never _know_ , you know?”

It was only then that Tenten realized that Ryuko hadn’t asked her anything about herself. A part of her wanted to be flattered that Ryuko thought she’d turned out well, based on so short an interaction. Then again… She’d never even gotten around to telling her that one of those great parents had died before she’d even really gotten a chance to know her.

Tenten hurried out before any plans could be made for a second meeting. Though there was probably no need to worry. She doubted Ryuko had thought that far ahead.

**…………**

And so Tenten found herself back at the training field, leaning up against one of the posts, struggling to sort through her thoughts. They continued to float around her mind in nonsensical patterns. Their long-awaited meeting had not gone the way she’d expected. She could say that at least.

_Well, what were you really expecting?_ the logical part of her brain intervened. _We are talking about a woman who got pregnant at seventeen and then gave her baby away to a couple she’d just met._

_Where were_ you _for the last week?_ the rest of her shot back irritably.

She was rescued from her floundering by the sound of other voices. This wasn’t much of a surprise. She was in a public training field after all. Though she couldn’t make out the words just yet, there was something vaguely familiar about those voices.

A second later, Lee and Neji came into view, and she had to smile. Immediately, she had to wonder how Lee had gotten Neji to accompany him out today. Even from a distance, the Hyuga genius looked like his patience was quickly wearing thin. It was clear that Lee, exuberant as ever, was trying to convince him of something. He stopped abruptly, however, upon spotting her and refocused his energy on waving her over to join them and calling her name.

Neji did not appear surprised to see her, and she had to wonder if he’d known she was over here and had purposely led Lee in the direction of a distraction. Though she found that she wasn’t terribly bothered by that possibility. Tenten got to her feet.

“Hey, guys. What’s up?” she asked, doing her best to sound casual. 

There was a familiar fire in Lee’s eyes. “Tenten!” he exclaimed again. “Are you here to train as well?!”

“Uh, not exactly… I was just trying to sort out my thoughts.” 

Neji’s gaze was level with understanding. “Did you find your mother?”

Lee shot him a surprised look—appearing unusually down to earth—and Tenten had to wonder if they’d had a private agreement between the two of them not to bring it up. Once again, she found she was not as bothered by their antics as she might have been even just a month ago.

“I guess it was kind of obvious, huh?”

“Disappointing?” Neji guessed.

“I’m not sure that’s the right word for it, exactly…” And it wasn’t. Even the let-down was not quite living up to her expectations. “It wasn’t like she was unkind. She seemed really happy to see me, actually.”

“But?” Neji’s probing did not hold quite the level of mocking cynicism it usually did, and she took some comfort from that.

“She was just so flighty!” Tenten exclaimed at last. “I mean, we look so alike, but when I was talking to her… It’s hard to believe she contributed half of my DNA.”

And that had been the true disappointment, if any. For the week between setting eyes on Ryuko and meeting her for the first time, there had been possibilities. And then reality had grounded her again. She had not found some sort of kindred spirit in Ryuko. Their relationship—if one formed past this point—would not have the fantastical qualities Tenten had imagined, however briefly.

“DNA isn’t everything,” Lee told her, his voice oddly gentle. And then he glanced at Neji as if waiting for a contradiction, but their team mate was silent.

“I guess I feel kind stupid,” she admitted. “I worked so hard to be patient. But I feel like I might have gotten carried away without even realizing it.”

“You have a right to wonder about your origins.” This time the quiet reassurance came from Neji. Somehow this was more unsettling than Lee’s words had been. Neji was not the reassuring type.

Surprising them both, she laughed. Not one of Ryuko’s awkward, defensive laughs. A real one. “Guys, relax. I’m not about to turn into some weepy, hysterical mess.”

And she wasn’t. Perhaps what had struck her most was that—at twelve—she was already more level-headed than her biological mother was likely to ever be. And that was a little sad, but, hey, it is what it is. What she’d taken away from this journey was that it had been unnecessary.

Well, perhaps that was not _entirely_ true. Lee had fixed Neji with an intense look, as if daring him to say something hurtful. She knew he was prepared to defend his comrade if need be. And Neji was glaring right back, as if offended that Lee apparently thought so little of him. Watching her team mates, she felt the overwhelming urge to giggle.

Perhaps this journey had done her some good after all: opened her eyes to what she already had.

Neji and Lee both gave her odd looks when her laughter burst out of her. How could she have thought she needed anything else? Blood was not always thicker than water. Her biological parents may have brought her into this world, but it was her real family and friends who had made her the person she was today. She felt a sudden surge of fondness for the two boys standing before her. She was really starting to like her team. Indeed… She already had everything she needed. How could she have ever thought otherwise?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anticlimactic, right? Oh well. I still consider this plot bunny complete.


End file.
